For many people the problem of evil is the single biggest reason not to believe, and it is rarely an abstract puzzle. It usually comes attached to a memory.
This paper works through the intellectual side: the logical and evidential versions of the argument, the role of human freedom, and the difference between a defence and a full theodicy. It argues that the existence of evil does not make belief in a good and powerful God irrational. It also declines to tie the answer up neatly. Some real mystery is left over at the end, and saying so beats papering over it.
That posture, serious about the arguments and gentle with people carrying real grief, is the same one I bring to the talk Why Would a Good God Allow Evil?